This thesis aims to make sense of Left politics in South Africa within the Tri-partite Alliance between the ANC, SACP and COSATU. The thesis focuses on developments in the Eastern Cape, between 2000 and 2008. The thesis describes the prevalent forms of Left politics in the Eastern Cape and the tendencies in the Alliance that organise this Left. The thesis also examines the historical, social and political conditions and that shape the form and content of Left politics in the province. Based on a survey of literature on what is considered the core manifestations of Left politics globally in the 20th Century Left politics is defined as the elements of the political spectrum that are concerned with the progressive resolution of involuntary disadvantage and with a goal of abolishing class society and capitalism. Although the Alliance as a whole should be seen to be on the Left on an international political spectrum, this thesis argues that the Left/Right dichotomy is useful for understanding the politics of the Alliance, as long as the second part of this definition is taken into consideration. The Alliance Left is understood as those leaders and activists within the Alliance that have the SACP and Cosatu as their operating base. It will be argued that this Left is, in its practice, largely concerned with what insiders refer to as politics of „influence‟, rather than with politics of „structural transformation‟. It is the ANC that is the leader of the Alliance and the party in government and thus it is on the terrain of ANC strategy, policy and positions that contestation in the Alliance plays itself out. Thus, for the Left, there is strength in the idea of the Alliance. However, there are significant theoretical and political weaknesses in the Left that undermine the possibility of making good use of various corporatist platforms to pursue the agenda of the Left in the Eastern Cape. There is also increased contestation within the Alliance Left itself about the continued usefulness of this strategy.

The Elective Conference of the African National Congress (ANC) of 2007 that took place in Polokwane remains an important event since 1994 (Fikeni 2009). The economic policy of the ANC and candidature of Mbeki and Zuma for the presidency contributed to the growing of factionalism in the ruling party that culminated in the 2007 conference. The study investigates and analyses the development of factions and ideological contestations that seemed to punctuate the ANC towards its 2007 National Congress that took place in Polokwane. It examines the roots and causes of factionalism in the ANC with a specific focus on the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM). It also investigates the extent to which the conservative policies such as Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) contributed in the divisions and factionalism prior the 2007 polokwane conference. The study departs from the premise that history of the ANC is riddled with factionalism and ideological contestations that have been well documented. Furthermore, the political infighting within the ANC impacts on governance structures and the local government level. The study seeks to demonstrate the effects of the 2007 power contestations between Zuma and Mbeki on the NMBM. To this effect, the study demonstrates how the leadership contestations in the ruling party impacted on the service delivery in the city. For the purposes of analyzing and making sense of the nature of power plays within the ANC it draws from the theories of factionalism to illustrate that the link between the growing of factionalism and the one party dominant system.

MGS / Institute for Gender and Youth Studies / Political participation has more to do with various procedures than voting only. The United Nations (2015) argues that politics has to do with freedom of speech, working together without gender biasness, capacity to take part in the public sphere, ability to be registered as a political contender and campaign, be voted and be able to hold office at all stages of government leadership. Therefore, world-over men and women should be equal in order to participate in all areas of decision making in party-politics. Unfortunately, this has not been easy for women as there have been several barriers to their participation. This is because gender equality has been implemented on paper than in practice. This is due to the fact that many people have been socialised to believe that men are more powerful than women. This practice is deeply engraved into the social systems extending to the economic and political spheres leading to women being regarded powerless and unable to take up decision making or influential political positions in many nations. The gender biasness becomes even more apparent in political parties, women are often appointed to positions relating to administration and nurturing roles as compared to the strategic positions. Women continue to be marginalized as men still continue to be regarded as the custodians of leadership positions this study aims to examine the political disparities between men and women as they determine who should be nominated and elected leading to many women being disregarded. Qualitative approach was used for data collection using semi-structured interviews.Data was then analysed using the thematic analysis to draw themes from the research as well as participants’ responses. Non-probability sampling was used to choose participants of the study using the purposive or judgmental sampling. Moreover, a gender audit was made with regards to gender representation in the Vhembe District political arena. Information for the audit was acquired through the help of key informants. Findings of the research observed that in the Vhembe District, besides the existing barriers against women’s ascendency to positions of political power, women have been finding a way up to influential political positions, even though many are still concentrated at the very low positions as councillors. Hence, besides the unprecedented number of women politicians, equal gender relations have not been achieved in the district. Furthermore, the findings indicated that, political people in the district are less aware of gender policies as well as government efforts aimed at doing away with gender inequalities in the sector. In this regard, this research is a significant instrument in highlighting the disparities that exist between men and women which disadvantage mainly women by holding them back from accessing equal influential political positions.

The central issue in this study is political socialisation and its implications within a rural setting in South Africa with a particular focus on Calais village in Limpopo Province. The aim of the study is to determine how adult residents of Calais village, are politically socialised; and furthermore to assess the impact of the socialisation process on the residents’ political behaviour within a democratic South Africa. In order to achieve the research purpose, face-to-face interviews were conducted with forty (40) adult residents in Calais village. The study revealed that the respondents were politically socialised by the media, immediate family, peers, extended family, political parties, local municipality, school, traditional leadership, ward committee and religious institutions. The media were the most important agent, while the religious institutions were the least. Furthermore, NGOs and trade unions were not socialisation agents in Calais village. The socialisation process had an impact on the respondents’ political behaviour in terms of political interest, party identification, political beliefs, efficacy, knowledge, awareness and participation. / Political Sciences / M.A. (Politics)